The invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Ruellia simplex plant named ‘R13-5-3’. ‘R13-5-3’ is an F2 seedling from a manual hybridization conducted on Mar. 12, 2012, at the Environmental Horticulture Research Greenhouses (EHRG), University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, Fla., between female parent ‘R9-106’ (UF proprietary clone, not patented; diploid, white corolla with purple throat) x male parent ‘Chi Chi’ (commercial cultivar, not patented; diploid, red-purple flowers). Ploidy level determinations were done by flow cytometry at UF using wild R. simplex as a diploid (2n=2x=34) control and ‘Purple Showers’ (commercial cultivar, not patented) as a tetraploid control. ‘R13-5-3’ is monoploid (n=x=17), which indicates that its origin was likely by haploid parthogenesis in the maternal parent.
‘R13-5-3’ has been reproduced asexually for over 4 years through vegetative cuttings (stem tip cuttings) and has been shown to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations.
‘R13-5-3’ has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing date of this application.